I have long prayed that The Master’s Seminary would be enabled by God to “give away” our biblically-centered resources on a global scale. The time has now arrived, by God’s great grace, when our new Theological Resource Center can deliver these materials to you without cost. Modern technology permits us to minister to you in remarkable ways that the original disciples could never have imagined when they first heard Christ command them to “go into all the world” (Mark 16:15). Make the most of what God has richly provided here—please be our guest!

The Theological Resource Center provides study/teaching materials from The Master’s Seminary, Grace Community Church, The Master’s College, and Grace to You. The website will continually be updated with new materials as they become available.

Joseph Pipa, Jr. writes an article for TableTalk this month on “Dealing with Lust.” You can read the whole article here but here are seven directions that Pipa notes come from the Puritan John Flavel for dealing with lust:

1. Beg of God a clean heart, renewed and sanctified by saving grace. We must always begin with the heart, for it is the fountain of all else (Matt. 15:19), and God promises to answer our prayers as we pray according to His will (John 14:13–14). We must seek the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit.

2. Walk in the fear of God all the day long, and in the sense of his omniscient eye that is ever upon you. How often our behavior is dictated by who is watching. We forget that He sees all.

3. Avoid lewd company, and the society of unclean persons; they are panderers for lust. Evil company corrupts good manners. Remember that this direction not only includes our personal contacts but those we encounter through movies, music, books, magazines, and computers.

4. Exercise yourself in your calling diligently; it will be an excellent means of preventing this sin. You have heard the adage, “Idleness is the Devil’s workshop.”

5. Put a restraint upon your appetite: feed not to excess. This direction does not mean that we may not enjoy God’s good gifts of food and drink, and the pleasure of feasting with friends, but it is a sober reminder that if we pander to our physical appetites in one area, we will be more prone to fall in other areas.

6. Choose a spouse and delight in the one you have chosen. One of the liberating insights of the Reformation is that within marriage, sex is for pleasure and is a God-given protection against unlawful lusts.

7. Take heed of running on in a course of sin, especially superstition and idolatry: in which cases, and as a punishment of which evils God often gives up men to these vile affections (Rom. 1:25–26). Sin inevitably breeds sin.

Is an unborn baby “a life worth sacrificing?” The question is horrifying, but the argument was all too real. In a recent article, Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon.com conceded what the pro-life movement has contended all along — that from the moment of conception the unborn child is undeniably a human life. And yet, Williams argues that this unborn human life must be terminated if a woman desires an abortion. The child is a life, but, in her grotesque view, “a life worth sacrificing.”

In William’s own words, she explains:

“Here’s the complicated reality in which we live: All life is not equal. That’s a difficult thing for liberals like me to talk about, lest we wind up looking like death-panel-loving, kill-your-grandma-and-your-precious-baby storm troopers. Yet a fetus can be a human life without having the same rights as the woman in whose body it resides. She’s the boss. Her life and what is right for her circumstances and her health should automatically trump the rights of the non-autonomous entity inside of her. Always.”

I read God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew when I was a teen. It was one of the first books I read about the persecuted church and “closed countries.” I was captivated by the book and thankful for it. I was surprised to find out a few years ago that Brother Andrew is still alive. This book and others like it have impressed me to pray for persecuted Christians and minister to them as possible for many years.

Christian Audio is offering this classic as free audio book this month. It is narrated by one of my favorite book readers Simon Vance. Here’s a summary of the book:

As a boy he dreamed of being a spy – undercover behind enemy lines. As a man he found himself undercover for God. Brother Andrew was his name, and for decades his life story, recounted in God’s Smuggler, has awed and inspired millions. This bestseller tells of the young Dutch factory worker’s incredible efforts to transport Bibles across closed borders – and the miraculous ways in which God provided for him every step of the way.

This story is reintroduced in a 35th anniversary edition with a new foreword and afterword. Brother Andrew’s story remains as inspiring today as it was thirty-five years ago, and with this new release it will motivate a new generation to risk everything to follow God’s call.

When our sins and iniquities are confessed, God pledges himself to forget them. We are incapable of making up our minds to forget. If we determine to forget anything, it is only likely to impress the fact more deeply on our memories. But God says, ‘I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more’ (8:12). God remembers his mercy and forgets our sins. It is the devil who tries to remind us of both our former sins and our present weakness.